First

Chapter 18

I was yanked from sleep as my room was suddenly flooded with light. It couldn't have been morning yet; my first thought was that Jace had got up and turned on the light to see where he was going. I opened my eyes to tell him to turn it off only to see Jace still beside me. What the hell? Suddenly his eyes went wide as he was pulled out of bed. I sat up and gasped as I saw Jace now pinned against the wall.

"Jace!" I cried, jumping out of bed.

"What the HELL are you doing my sister?! Huh?! ANSWER ME!" It was only then that I realized who was yelling at Jace... Levi. Shit!

"Levi, stop, please. You're hurting him!" I yelled at the same time Levi pulled his fist back and slammed it into Jace's face. Jace made no move to fight back as Levi repeatedly attacked him. Blood was gushing from his nose and a cut on his lip. Levi was going at him with such savagery that it scared me. I had never seen my brother this unhinged before.

"Jace!" I screamed, pulling on Levi's arm, trying to get him to release Jace. "Levi, stop!" Tears were streaming down my face as I watched Jace and Levi in horror. I kept pulling at him, desperate for him to stop his violent assault. All the while, Levi was shouting at Jace about the fact that we had been in bed together. I tuned it all out, only focused on Jace. I was so focused on his face that I wasn't prepared for elbow that I caught in the stomach as Levi moved to punch Jace in the stomach. Instead it got me.

I collapsed to the floor with a cry and clutched at my stomach. "Move!" Jace yelled at Levi as he pushed him out of the way and dropped to his knees beside me. Jace pulled me into his chest and hushed my sobs. "Sh, it's okay; it's stopped." I felt myself lifted from the floor and set gently on the bed. "Are you okay?" Jace asked as he brushed strands of hair out of my face.

I nodded and gasped in horror when my eyes finally landed on his face. "Jace... oh my god!" I cried, a fresh sob escaping. A bruise was already starting to rise and his lip was starting to swell. Blood was dripping from his nose and it was starting to dry. I could tell he was going to be black and blue in the morning. I needed to get him cleaned up and away from Levi. I had no idea Levi had this in him. How could he do this?

Suddenly, my eyes landed on Levi and I was filled with rage. "How could you?!" I cried, jumping up from Jace's lap and shoving Levi. He stumbled back in surprise but quickly rallied. "You could have killed him!"

"Yeah right! What did you expect me to do? Give you my blessing? Jesus." He had no right to be so indignant right now.

"No but you didn't have to do this!" I launched myself at him but Jace quickly caught me around the waist and held me tight against his chest so I couldn't escape. All I saw was red when I looked at Levi. I wanted to hurt him as bad as he had hurt Jace.

"Hey, Kade, stop."

"How could you?" I screamed, desperately trying to free myself from Jace's arms and go after Levi.

Levi took a menacing step towards me but Jace slipped me behind his back as Levi said, "Because I walk in and he's in bed with my sister. Dad warned you off him and you didn't fucking listen! How could you be so stupid, Kadence? He's just using you. Can't you see that?"

"Hey! Back off!" Jace gave Levi a quick shove. "Don't you dare talk to her like that again, you hear me?"

"And what are you going to do?"

"What I just let you do to me. Only this time, I'll have some motivation to beat your sorry ass," Jace replied. I watched their exchange in shock; I didn't know what to say so I kept silent.